Petra Cavazos González was a strong-willed mother and housewife-turned-businesswoman who loved her family and had a passion for dancing.

“She was very wise, had very good judgment (and) a very giving soul,” said daughter Blanca “Nely” González. “She helped many people.”

Petra González, 82, died Wednesday in San Antonio following a 17-year battle with Alzheimer's disease.

Growing up in Monterrey, Mexico, she fought an unknown disease at a young age that doctors predicted she wouldn't live through. Petra González's family said her mother worked extra hours, raising money for iron-enriched foods she needed to recover.

“She survived, and doctors say it was a miracle,” Nely González said. “She overcame much adversity in her life.”

Petra González never took for granted what her mother did for her. Working in a factory as a young adult, she “wouldn't take the bus home to save money from her bus fare and give it to her mother,” Nely González said.

It was at a community dance where she met Rosendo González, whom she would later marry.

“My mother loved to dance and my father hated to dance,” daughter Lupita González said. “They didn't dance (that night) but they kept talking and he asked her out.”

Rosendo González later gave his future wife two weeks to decide if she would marry him. With a “Yes,” the two married and were together for 30 years.

The couple moved to San Antonio in 1960, after stints working in Wisconsin and later Chicago only to realize the locations were both too cold to raise their first-born.

Rosendo González worked as a waiter in the evening at Apache's Café and at a meat plant in the morning. The couple later purchased the restaurant from the owner. The building was demolished and Rosendo González opened Los Apaches Café I down the street in 1965 and a second location in 1974.

Lupita González recalled how she and her siblings would study behind the counter as her parents worked in the restaurant. Petra and Rosendo González had plans to retire in Mexico after setting up the San Antonio businesses, but plans changed after Rosendo González died in 1977. Petra González took over the businesses with help from son Jaime González, who died two years ago.

Son Gerardo González described his mother as “a housewife who supported him and got thrown into the businesses.” The family continued to operate restaurants for decades, selling the last one seven years ago.